Homemade Dog Food Calculator
Homemade feeding fails on calories and balance, not on love. Set your dog's target and your recipe's energy density (most home-cooked rations land at 130–180 kcal/100 g) to get exact daily grams.
Enter your dog's details
Results update as you type.
Homemade portions by weight (160 kcal/100 g)
| Dog weight | RER (resting) | Daily target | Food per day | Per meal (×2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 kg · 7 lb | 160 kcal | 255 kcal | 144 g | 72 g |
| 5 kg · 11 lb | 234 kcal | 374 kcal | 211 g | 105 g |
| 8 kg · 18 lb | 333 kcal | 533 kcal | 300 g | 150 g |
| 10 kg · 22 lb | 394 kcal | 630 kcal | 354 g | 177 g |
| 15 kg · 33 lb | 534 kcal | 854 kcal | 480 g | 240 g |
| 20 kg · 44 lb | 662 kcal | 1,059 kcal | 596 g | 298 g |
| 25 kg · 55 lb | 783 kcal | 1,252 kcal | 704 g | 352 g |
| 30 kg · 66 lb | 897 kcal | 1,436 kcal | 808 g | 404 g |
| 35 kg · 77 lb | 1,007 kcal | 1,612 kcal | 907 g | 453 g |
| 40 kg · 88 lb | 1,113 kcal | 1,781 kcal | 1,002 g | 501 g |
| 50 kg · 110 lb | 1,316 kcal | 2,106 kcal | 1,185 g | 592 g |
| 60 kg · 132 lb | 1,509 kcal | 2,415 kcal | 1,358 g | 679 g |
Home-cooked ration at 160 kcal/100 g, neutered adult, 10% treat allowance removed. Volume is roughly double kibble — that is water, not extra nutrition.
The two ways homemade diets go wrong
1. Calories by eye. Cooked rice, meat and vegetables vary wildly in density — a chicken-and-rice batch can be 120 kcal/100 g or 190 depending on fat and water. Calculate your batch once (ingredients' kcal ÷ total cooked weight) and enter it above.
2. Missing micronutrients. Study after study of published home recipes finds most are deficient in at least one of calcium, vitamin D, vitamin E, iodine, zinc or essential fatty acids. Meat and veg alone is not a complete diet at any portion size. The standard fixes are a commercial balancer formulated for homemade diets, or a recipe written by a veterinary nutritionist — rotated proteins alone do not close the calcium gap.
Feed a properly balanced homemade diet and it can be excellent food. Feed an unbalanced one at the perfect gram weight and it is still unbalanced — portion and balance are separate problems, and this calculator solves the first one honestly.
How to use this calculator
Enter weight
Enter the dog's weight (use ideal weight for weight loss).
Select life stage and goal
Select the life stage and goal so the correct MER factor applies.
Enter food energy density
Enter the food's energy density (kcal per 100 g) from its label.
Read the daily portion
Read the daily portion in grams, split it across meals, and adjust by 10% every 2 weeks based on body condition.
Frequently asked
How much homemade food per day for a 20 kg dog?
About 600 g/day at 160 kcal/100 g density for a neutered adult (1,059 kcal target, 10% treats removed) — roughly 300 g per meal.
What is the right meat-to-vegetable ratio for homemade dog food?
There is no magic ratio that guarantees balance; energy density and micronutrient completion matter more. Most workable recipes land near 50–70% animal ingredients with a balancer added.
Can I feed homemade food every day long-term?
Yes, if it is formulated or balanced to AAFCO/FEDIAF profiles. Long-term feeding of an unbalanced recipe is where deficiency disease comes from — slowly and quietly.
How much homemade food does a 20 kg dog need?
At 1,059 kcal/day on a typical homemade recipe (160 kcal/100 g): about 596 g/day — plus a vitamin-mineral balancer. Unsupplemented homemade food is not complete, however good the ingredients.
What supplement does homemade food need?
A vitamin-mineral balancer formulated for dogs (or a recipe-specific balancer). Oil and vegetables do not cover calcium, iodine or vitamin D.